National Basketball Association

Lakers' title odds stay put after JJ Redick hire: 'It doesn't move the meter at all'

Updated Jun. 20, 2024 6:27 p.m. ET

When it was announced Thursday that the Lakers would tab former NBA-er JJ Redick as their next head coach, it was considered a splash hire.

But at the sportsbooks? It was nothing more than … a nothing burger.

"It doesn't move the meter at all," said SuperBook Vice President of Risk Management Jeff Sherman.

Sherman is actually not exaggerating.

As of June 18, at FanDuel Sportsbook, the Lakers were +4000 to win the championship next season. And after the hire on Thursday, that number didn't budge.

The number also didn't shift at BetMGM.

Tom Gable, Head of Sportsbook at The Borgata, elaborated.

"I'm not sure it makes too much of a difference. The West is loaded and certainly this is no knock on Redick, as there have been others who became head coaches in the league without prior coaching experience. But his relationship with LeBron [James] obviously played a big part in this hire, but I'm not sure the Lakers are any better off than they were this year."

Chances are, Redick didn't move the needle much simply because he's never coached in the NBA — or, on any level.

He was the 11th pick in the 2006 NBA Draft after spending four seasons at Duke. He then played for six different teams across 15 seasons, serving as mostly a dynamic 3-point threat.

Most recently, Redick started a podcast with James, entitled "Mind the Game."

"Make no mistake about it, he can coach," former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told FOX Sports' John Fanta in an exclusive Zoom interview from the office that he still occupies on campus. "He wants to win so badly, but he backs it up. JJ prepared as well as anybody that I ever coached."

While it doesn't appear that Redick is attempting to lure Coach K out of retirement in order to join his Lakers staff, reports are that he's aiming to surround himself with a veteran staff, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

In terms of other directions the Lakers could have gone, Sherman did applaud their decision to go with fresh blood as opposed to recycling another coaching name.

"I would rather go that route than a recycled old coach."

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